B2B payment systems are often viewed as little more than pressing a “send” button to move funds from one entity to another. Many stablecoin projects with this perspective focus on improving transaction rails—such as checks, wires, or digital transfers—while neglecting the critical, domain-specific processes that precede and follow the transfer. In reality:

B2B payments represent the culmination of extensive workflows, most of which center on data validation, regulatory or compliance steps, and multi-party approvals before the money can be moved.

This gap between perception (“we just need to pay someone”) and reality (“we must first confirm multiple contractual and operational details”) becomes especially evident in cross-border transactions, where unique legal frameworks, localized tax regulations, and exchange-rate volatility compound the operational complexity. In face, the growing relevance of digital assets—particularly stablecoins (eg@hadickM""> @hadickM) —has begun to intersect with these workflows, offering a potential avenue for streamlining funds movement if combined with robust workflow automation.

This article tries to argue that introducing stablecoins should not be viewed solely as an efficiency gain at the “payment execution” layer; rather, it must be integrated into a workflow-centric solution to unlock the trillion-dollar opportunity as per@PanteraCapital""> @PanteraCapital. One of stablecoin payment stacks that accrue most values, in my opinion, is the orchestration layer, just as what@robbiepetersen_""> @robbiepetersen_ said, that can streamline the complex workflows and cover as many regions as possible.

The Hierarchy of Needs in B2B Payments

A useful conceptual tool is to envision B2B payments in terms of a layered “hierarchy of needs.” The layers include:

Data Collection and Invoice Management

• B2B transactions often involve assembling vendor information, parsing invoices, and reconciling these with purchase orders or delivery records.

Compliance and Regulatory Checks

• Companies must verify that vendors meet local or international regulations, including KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) requirements.

Tax Reconciliation

• Determining the correct local and cross-border tax obligations—such as withholding taxes or VAT—can be intricate, particularly when shipping goods internationally.

Approvals and Audits

• Many organizations require multi-layered approval chains. Audit trails and real-time visibility into these approvals further complicate workflows.

Payment Execution

• The final movement of funds—traditionally by check, ACH, SWIFT, or other rails—sits atop this structure.

By recognizing that payment execution depends on the layers beneath it, solution providers can craft holistic systems that handle all stages, thereby avoiding failures or slowdowns caused by inadequate data tracing, suboptimal regulatory compliance, or incomplete approval chains.

Cross-Border Payment Workflows: Some Real Bottlenecks

Cross-border B2B payments amplify the challenges found in domestic payment contexts:

Regulatory Complexity

• Each jurisdiction imposes unique requirements on foreign transactions, involving not only AML/KYC but often specific documentation tied to trade laws and customs.

Granular Tax Obligations

• From import duties to value-added taxes, cross-border transactions demand precise tracking, sometimes splitting tax liabilities across multiple parties in different territories.

Extended Approval Hierarchies

• Subsidiaries and parent companies often have intricate sign-off procedures. Any mismatch in local compliance, product classification, or documentation can deadlock a payment indefinitely.

In many cases, these complexities are more significant barriers to timely and accurate payments than the friction of the payment rails themselves.

Illustrative Industry Examples

1. Freight & Logistics: Freight Auditing and Beyond

• Context: In freight and logistics, multiple carriers charge shipping, handling, surcharges, and even fines for early/late arrivals. Fuel costs fluctuate, and complex multi-leg shipping arrangements can result in very complicated invoices.
• Workflow Pain Point: The core challenge isn’t pressing “Pay the trucking company.” Instead, it’s reliably matching those fees to what was agreed upon, verifying that the item weight and distance were calculated correctly, and accounting for potential exceptions.
• Why It Matters: B2B payment solutions that only focus on a seamless payment interface miss the bigger problem of verifying the invoice details—a step often still managed by large teams or outsourced business process organizations (BPOs). A better approach is to integrate with shipping documents, track changes in schedules or loads, and catch invoicing errors before they’re paid.
• Real-World Example: Loop focuses first on auditing and workflow logic, then adds payment functionality. Another example might be a solution that automatically scans and parses shipping documents with AI, pushes exceptions to a queue, and only then unlocks the payment mechanism.

1. Construction and Upstream Supply Chains

• Context: Construction projects involve many layers of suppliers (from lumber and cement to electrical and mechanical subsystems). Tax liabilities vary widely by region and project type.
• Workflow Pain Point: Instead of just paying for “50 cubic yards of concrete,” a contractor must confirm that the purchase is tied to a specific project or permit, apply the correct local taxes, and confirm the purchase is authorized under the right job code.
• Why It Matters: Tools that merely expedite the transaction—without capturing or automating these approvals—don’t solve the bigger headache. B2B solutions that automate these checks, integrate with building permits, coordinate with sub-contractor budgets, and streamline partial deliveries have more staying power and value to the end user.
• Real-World Example: Nickel integrates with tax calculation engines to manage the complexities of different tax rates for the same item, depending on usage, buyer classification, and location. Other players might embed material usage forms and generate compliance documentation before triggering any disbursement.

1. Fuel Cards and Spend Management

• Context: Managing fleets of trucks, cars, equipment, or company vehicles involves controlling a significant chunk of operating expenses.
• Workflow Pain Point: Fuel is one obvious cost, but drivers can just as easily spend money on off-category items (snacks, personal fuel, or items not approved by the company). So the control and visibility matter more than the friction of simply “paying for gas.”
• Why It Matters: Tools like Wex, Fleetcor, Mudflap, AtoB, and Coast effectively combine the purchase transaction with real-time policy controls, so a line manager can see if a driver is buying non-fleet-related items—and also optimize for cheaper gas stations.
• Real-World Example: A solution might integrate telematics and route-optimization software, detect anomalies in mileage or fuel usage, flag suspicious purchases, and only then flow the transaction through once the relevant approvals or checks are satisfied.

1. Vendor Management and Invoice Approvals

• Context: Large corporations can have tens of thousands of vendors. Invoices come in different formats—some digital, some PDF, and some still on paper.
• Workflow Pain Point: Accounts Payable teams must ensure each invoice is valid, free of duplicates, allocated to the right budget codes, and in compliance with any relevant vendor agreements.
• Why It Matters: The “pay” step might be the easiest part—just cut a check or send an ACH. But verifying whether a $3,500 invoice is correct or if $100 was overbilled consumes significant manual effort.
• Real-World Example: Solutions like Tipalti, Coupa, or SAP Concur embed invoice intake, expense management, and vendor onboarding flows. They convert messy data into standardized entries, allow multi-level approval, handle currency conversion if needed, and only then trigger the release of funds.

1. SaaS Platforms for Sales Commissions

• Context: SaaS companies often have complex commission structures for sales teams, where different percentages and bonuses apply depending on product type, region, or subscription tier.
• Workflow Pain Point: Calculating and verifying each commission can be more complicated than the act of sending the salesperson’s bonus check. Discrepancies lead to disputes and dissatisfaction.
• Why It Matters: Automating a correct and transparent commission structure requires a robust system that ties into CRM data, tracks subscription usage or expansions, and factors in splits between multiple sales reps.
• Real-World Example: Platforms like CaptivateIQ or Spiff focus on solving the data and workflow side of commission calculations. By the time the payment is ready to be made, the system has already refined large volumes of data and automatically handles corner cases—thus avoiding error-prone spreadsheets.

Integrating Stablecoin Payments to Enhance Workflow Efficiency

While traditional rails (check, ACH, SWIFT) can be slow and costly—particularly in cross-border contexts—stablecoins have emerged as a compelling alternative for settling payments digitally. Key considerations include (mentioned by many, eg@proofofnathan""> @proofofnathan):

Reduced Settlement Times

• Stablecoins can offer near-instant settlements, bypassing the multiple correspondent banks often inherent in cross-border remittances. This feature can be especially beneficial when workflows already ensure that all operational conditions are satisfied and approvals are in place, preventing unnecessary payment delays.

Automated Compliance Checks

• Workflow platforms that incorporate stablecoin transfers can be designed to only initiate on-chain payments once certain smart-contract-based conditions are met—such as confirmations of vendor identity, cleared regulatory forms, or documented proof of delivery. This automated compliance reduces manual intervention and error.

Transparent FX Management

• In many stablecoin arrangements, the asset is pegged to a major currency (e.g., USD), mitigating exchange-rate volatility. This clarity can simplify payment reconciliation and accounting. Further, integrating stablecoin rails with advanced workflows can automatically swap stablecoins into local currencies for final recipient usage, reducing manual treasury management.

Cost Savings for Micro-Transactions

• If a B2B arrangement involves smaller recurring payments across borders—such as micro-invoices to overseas contractors—stablecoins may reduce fixed transaction fees. A workflow-based approach can bundle or schedule these payments to optimize gas fees or network costs on certain blockchain infrastructures.

Expand Value-Added Services

• Once a company has integrated stablecoins into its payment workflow, new opportunities become feasible. For instance, supporting just-in-time financing, real-time invoice factoring, or embedded dynamic discounting can all be codified within the workflow. The stablecoin-based system then enables these functions to occur with minimal friction.

Advantages of a Workflow-First Strategy in Cross-Border Contexts

Improved Transparency and Auditability

• By emphasizing documented, automated approvals, organizations ensure that each step—from KYC and AML checks to contract matching—is thoroughly tracked. This process reduces both disputes and compliance risks.

Minimized Human Touchpoints

• Manual oversight at each stage can cause delays and errors. An end-to-end workflow approach—potentially with stablecoin settlement at the final step—automates and streamlines interactions, significantly shortening the overall cycle time.

Scalable Solutions for Global Expansion

• Firms that rely on ad hoc cross-border payment methods find it difficult to scale. By contrast, workflow platforms that incorporate stablecoin-based rails and dynamic compliance management can expand into new markets more swiftly and at reduced operational cost.

Bundled Value Propositions

• Merely offering “payments” provides limited differentiation. Companies that handle documentation, regulatory overhead, and payment flow in a single, integrated platform become indispensable to their clients, securing more stable, higher-margin business relationships.

Conclusion

Despite conventional wisdom framing B2B payments as primarily a matter of expedient money transfers, the real barriers to cross-border efficiency lie in defective or incomplete workflows. These restrictions arise from fragmented data management, regulatory complexities, extended approval chains, and variable tax obligations. Despite the emergence of a lot stablecoin projects focusing on improving existing payment rails, stablecoins alone do not resolve the multifaceted workflows. While these stablecoin projects position themselves as the payment execution layer, I believe, projects with a systematic, workflow-first mindset to address these foundational layers and enable swifter, more transparent, and less error-prone global payments, are those that can capture most market share in the payment world, catalysed by real-time settlement and streamlined currency exchanges. In other words, these projects have to build powerful tools embedded within thoughtful, automated processes that confirm vendor credentials, reconcile invoices, manage taxation, and enforce multi-layer approvals.

The trillion-dollar opportunity belongs to projects that undertake this holistic approach—optimizing workflow orchestration and leveraging stablecoin efficiency. They can offer faster, more economical international payment services while seamlessly integrating compliance, tax, and documentation requirements. Such synergy not only enhances day-to-day payment operations but also positions companies to explore emerging markets, launch new financial products, and create enduring competitive differentiation in the global B2B finance spectrum.

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